


second time's a charm

by orphan_account



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Platonic relationships only - Freeform, Recovery, Relapse, Sobriety, lightly based off of some of the comic abilities Klaus had, ok but people who ship the hargreeves siblings are gross & weird ... theyre SIBLINGS, other than with dave lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 03:48:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17890934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Klaus may have gotten to restart when the Hargreeves' siblings jumped to the past, but sometimes he still remembers what it was like to love someone who returned the feelings so purely and true. And sometimes he remembers things worse than that...When his past had haunted him before, he went and did drugs. Who's to stop him now?As it turns out, there might be a few people who will.





	second time's a charm

**Author's Note:**

> :-) I need more Siblings Supporting Klaus content pls and thanks

Klaus’ eyes shot wide open, tears threatening the corners of his lashes and spilling over, muddying his already smokey-eyed look. His breath was coming in short bursts, labored and crushed like someone was stepping on his chest. To others, the night was almost completely silent, but Klaus heard gunfire and machinery and heavy artillery. He grinded his palms against his ears and gathered his knees against his chest.

“Shut up, shut up, shut _up_ ,” his teeth gnawed at his bottom lip frantically, his body seemingly unable to cope with the present.

Over months of tuning his newfound capabilities- with the bonus addition of suddenly being young again- Klaus had figured out how to keep the ghosts ( _his_ ghosts) under control. He’d even communicated with Dave once or twice before they had jumped back in time, but that took a lot out of him and Dave didn’t like seeing him so exhausted. After they'd travelled it hadn't even been possible. Dave didn't know who he was. It broke Klaus’ heart, but he knew it made perfect sense.

So he’d been clean for a couple months. His skills were improving rapidly, and he’d learned multitudes of new techniques. Vanya and him were particularly close, and although everyone tried to maintain bonds with one another - in prevention of the apocalypse, of course, - Klaus found it easiest to do so with said sister and his brothers, Ben and Diego.

Of course, Ben knew almost everything about him. Even now that he was alive again, he had what could be described as a sixth sense; He just _knew_ when Klaus was in distress. It was uncanny, and at the same time incredibly helpful. There had been a few close calls before, where he got too tired or too heartbroken and had turned a corner to his local drug dealer- but Ben was always there to stop it, whether it was with a memorable punch or verbal communication.

 

Vanya and him had surprisingly a lot in common. It wasn’t unusual for the two of them to be found chatting together, Klaus suspending the both of them in midair (an exciting new ability he had discovered about three weeks into being sober) somewhere around the house. They gossiped and laughed and goofed off- Klaus felt strangely protective of her, even though they were the same age. She was like his little sister; When he voiced this aloud, however, she joked that it was her height that made it feel that way. Klaus had snorted and given her a playful shove, and they both screeched in delight as she twirled in the air, gravity going easy on them while they were so high above the ground.

 

Diego was probably the most difficult of the three to get along with, but at times he was the most accepting. He hadn’t seen all the shit that Ben had, or even heard about it like Vanya- despite this, he took most things in stride and always made sure to let Klaus know he was cared about. It was reassuring to spend time with him. Their favorite past-time was sitting together in comfortable silence, just doing their own individual things. Sometimes Diego would sharpen his knives (non threateningly, if that can be believed) and Klaus would practice levitating or other skills, or they’d just sit next to each other and stare blankly ahead. The latter usually happened after a difficult mission; And that was new too. Or old… Klaus still had a hard time wrapping his head around what had happened in the timestream.

 

They spent a long time in a suspended timeline, figuring out the best way to go back without creating some sort of funky paradox. Eventually Five figured it out and they travelled back, but it was peculiar to be a kid and under Hargreeves’ command once more. Of course, it was less daunting as it used to be; They had all the _real_ control and Hargreeves was left in the dark about what events had actually gone down in the apocalypse. He still made an effort to make their lives hell when he could despite this.

 

His nightmares were unceasing. It was worst nearing the anniversary he had come back to the future, but even disregarding that they prevailed. Ghosts and ghouls were the least of his problems now, Klaus had war and tyranny to worry about.

 

The night was eerily quiet still, no one having woken during Klaus’ panic attack. That was good- he didn’t want them around for this.. Didn’t want them to see him so low. His fingers ached for a cigarette and his lips burned at the lack of something to swig. Was this it? Could he undo all the progress he had made, relapse in the middle of the night?

 

Klaus already knew he could.

 

His feet never hit the floor- he levitated himself to the window and slipped it open. Would this power disappear at the absence of his sobriety? Klaus supposed he’d find out, and made sure to leave the ladder of the fire escape down for his way back, just in case.

The streets weren’t empty, per say, but there was a certain ominous lack of people that comes with witching hour outings. Klaus ignored this and floated tiredly to where he knew he could get something- anything. It didn’t matter how old (or young) he looked where he was going.

“Hey kid, watcha want? I got grass, E…” a crusty looking man trailed off, seemingly unperturbed by the hovering child in front of him. Klaus snorted and remembered occasions in the past that the man had scammed him in. Then again- Klaus wasn’t looking for a good high, just something to erase the toiling emotions in his chest.

 

“Okay. You got coke?” Klaus knew for a fact that he did, and threatened the man against cheating him out of a full amount. They agreed upon a price and Klaus fingered over the cash, grabbing the bag of white powder and shooting upwards to the closest rooftop. He could probably have gone back to the academy and it would have been safer, but then he might have been caught. Klaus needed this.

 

The first line was exhilarating. His body hadn’t had any drugs in so long- in fact, this may have been the first time his child self had tried anything like this. That didn’t matter, Klaus knew he could handle whatever he took. His nose was numb by the time he moved to snort the third line, and he felt the head-rush of energy like a pleasant bump to the head, if such a thing existed.

 

He felt like whooping; Why had he been clean in the first place? This was amazing- no, this was incredible. The pain encumbering his heart subsided for a moment and all he could feel was the sweet bliss of the high.

 

Klaus rubbed his eyes giddily and packed up the excess of the drug, knowing he would snort some more later.

 

“Fuck you, sobriety!” His voice echoed into the night sky and he yelled in delight, jumping around on the rooftop until he found himself able to scale the building back down. Sure enough, his levitation was heavily disabled- Klaus couldn’t find it in himself to give a shit. He stumbled a bit on the way down, and suffered some aches and bruises because of it. By the time he had reached the ground he was bumped up and black and blue… Thankfully the coke took care of the pain.

 

It was very strange being so short once again. Klaus knew that his growth spurt was due when he turned fifteen, and his body was only biologically thirteen. He still had quite a ways to go, and normally he could remedy that with ‘walking’ just a few feet above the floors. Now, however, he was stuck to his height, and joyfully so. If this was one of the prices to be, well- so be it.

 

Klaus didn’t really know how long he stayed out, wandering around and stopping every now and then to snort another line. The sun blazed its hello through the skies and blinded his eyes, then rose out of the way. He decided that walking around in broad daylight was begging for trouble, and made his way back to where he thought the direction of the academy was. His newly-drug addled mind didn’t stop to think of what might happen when he showed up there, just wanted to be home and doing something. Cleaning, maybe. Was his room messy? He could clean some more just in case. And build something! There were so many fun new things to do and Klaus was on top of the world.

 

The ascent was much less graceful than his descent, and although the ladder to his room was down (thank the lord- he’d have to thank sober him later) all the steps seemed to be moving out of his way as he made his way up. He tripped more than once and broke into delirious giggles, finally tumbling into his room ungracefully with a loud thud.

 

For a moment he lay there, huffing and laughing to himself and wondering when he should go out again and _what he should take next_ \- when a bare foot landed on his chest.

 

“Oof- what the fuck? Who- oh, ha, hi Ben,” Klaus wheezed from his position on the floor and scrambled to get up despite the foot still holding him down. He knew how it looked- knew that it was _exactly_ how it looked- and closed his eyes before opening them and facing away as far as he could. _Just don’t let him see your pupils_. That would be the dead giveaway, because even though he couldn’t see how blown up they were, he knew they definitely were. He’d been tweaking his high all night and into the morning, there was no way Klaus wouldn’t look crazy.

 

“I was just out for a walk,” he smiled, and steadfastly avoided his brother’s gaze.

 

“Uh huh. Look at me in the eyes and tell me that again.”

 

“You don’t believe me? Aw, Ben, I thought we were- I thought we were buildin’ up some trust, y’know? Getting that good old… uh… sibling bond going!”   
  
“Klaus, look at me.”

 

“Ben, c’mon, I just went to go get something to eat and I want to clean my room now so let me up? Please?”

 

“You went on a walk _and_ you went to go get something to eat?” Ben stood above him and his voice sounded tired, like he hadn’t slept in years. Klaus knew that if he looked, Ben would have a sliver of hope in his eyes still- begging himself just to believe that Klaus might have actually done what he’d said in his lies.

 

“Fine, you can get up,” his brother sighed, and Klaus pushed himself to his feet in a hurry, looking down and away erratically.

He tried to push past Ben but gasped when the taller (not for long, at least) boy grabbed his head and forced their eyes together. Klaus recoiled, but the action had done its intended purpose. Ben’s knees locked, and his legs wobbled precariously. He walked over to Klaus’ bed and sat down, shoving his face into his hands and rubbing furiously at his eyes.

 

Klaus hated that he was the one who made Ben do that. It made his numbed insides ache again and oh, fuck, he had to go get more. Where was the rest of his shit? Why had he thrown all his pills out? Jesus Christ, what an _idiot_.

 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Ben I didn’t mean to- I’m so sorry. I- please don’t be upset, there’s nothing wrong, it’s fine, I’m fine, see?” Klaus gestures to himself frantically despite the fact that Ben’s face is still buried in his hands, and he starts towards the window.

“This was my fault but I’ll… I can fix it, I know I can fix it because this is fine. Nothing’s even broken, see, I’m going, I’m going to- uh- I have to go, I’m sorry Ben,” He’s stammering and his face feels hot and Klaus can barely think beyond how badly he had fucked up.

 

His hands are grabbing at the railings of the fire escape when Ben tugs on his legs and gets him back inside. Klaus was still upset, but it was dampened by his second time thumping onto the floor of his room. A gust of air was knocked out of his lungs and he yelped in annoyance. Ben hoisted him up and looked up him skeptically.

 

“You’re not going anywhere. We’re going to get you sober again and you’ll get better. I know it’s difficult for you, and everyone has relapses. It’s hard, but we love you and we’re going to be here for you from here on out, Klaus. You’ll get better.”

 

Ben pulled him into a hug and Klaus felt his eyes watering a little. This was stupid- he didn’t need to get sober, the drugs were helping him, really, and there was no harm. It was fine. He was fine.

 

“...Klaus?” Diego stood at the entrance to his room, hand hovering on the door knob as if he was still deciding whether  to interrupt or not. Klaus looked at him and smiled woefully, and Diego’s eyes widened in understanding.

 

“It’s okay. Hey, c’mere, we’re gonna do a group hug and then I’ll go ask mom the best ways to help you recover from a relapse. C’mere,” he repeated, then walked towards Ben and Klaus with the same determination he exhibited during missions. The three brothers stood together, gripping each other and holding on tight because they knew;

They were going get it right this time ‘round.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for readin it through! If you see any issues lmk I don't bite
> 
> edit;; fixed a couple things I noticed seemed off! would yall want another chapter ? (and what would it be about, Klaus struggling not to relapse again OR klaus getting some much needed Therapy from his siblings (or both))


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